Americans are most afraid of the streets at night, the Japanese – nuclear weapons, and the Russians – the illness of loved ones.
In America
Almost simultaneously, the results of two large studies of mass fears were published. Sociologists at Chapman University in California conducted a survey of 1500 Americans* of both sexes, ages, racial and social groups, different levels of income and education. They were asked several differently worded questions in order to separate what people are afraid of from what worries them. The top 5 fears look colorful and, perhaps, paradoxical. Americans are afraid: to walk the streets at night; become a victim of “identity theft”, when an attacker uses the personal data of another person for personal gain; the dangers associated with using the Internet; become the victim of an accidental shooting or “crazy shooter”; performances before the public.
Internet threats appear in the top 5 alarms as many as three times, here they are: “identity theft” on the Web; corporate surveillance of Internet activity; fear of being left without a livelihood in the future; state surveillance of Internet activity; disease.
The ranking of the 5 most feared natural disasters and catastrophes is as follows: tornadoes and hurricanes; earthquakes; floods; epidemics; blackouts. According to study leader Dr. Christopher Bader, among the paradoxical results is the fact that, according to Americans, crime in the country is growing, respectively, their fear of being harmed by crime is growing. Meanwhile, all available statistics clearly demonstrate that crime in the United States has declined sharply over the past 20 years.
The researchers tried to identify the causes of “social shyness” by looking at possible factors such as age, gender, race, employment, education, income, religion, region of the country where the person lives, political views, television viewing and gun ownership. And they came to the conclusion, very instructive, that people with a low level of education who spend a lot of time in front of the TV screen are more susceptible to various fears.
Read more:
- Deal with your phobias
In the world
The independent Pew Research Center polled people in 44 countries to find out what they think are the biggest global threats**. It turned out that it depends on where they live and, accordingly, what dangers are most relevant to them.
It should be noted that the survey itself was conducted in the spring, that is, before the Ebola epidemic in Africa and before the start of active hostilities unleashed by the Islamist group ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
So, in equatorial Africa, infectious diseases and AIDS are the most feared. In the Middle East, including both Islamic countries and Israel, religious and ethnic strife is considered the main threat. Europeans are worried about social inequality, the Japanese are worried about the risks associated with nuclear weapons. In America, opinions were divided depending on the political views of the respondents: supporters of the Republicans consider religious and ethnic strife a more serious threat, supporters of the Democrats and “non-aligned” – inequality.
Read more:
- Labyrinth of fear: find a way out
In Russia
Compatriots, unlike the inhabitants of the Middle East, who know firsthand about ethnic and religious wars, are not afraid of discord on this basis. On the contrary, they protect themselves from fear by it: in their view, the threat is borne by the representatives of other nationalities themselves. The top “threats to Russia”***, compiled in August by VTsIOM, topped the possibility of “settlement of Russia by representatives of other nationalities (Chinese, Vietnamese and others)”, which is considered quite real by 27% of respondents. The next five positions in this rating are occupied by: terrorist attacks against vital infrastructure facilities (it seems that sociologists did not ask about terrorist attacks against people); the decline of culture, science and education; ecological catastrophy; the split of the current ruling elite and the fight for power; threats from space – comets and meteorites.
As for “personal” fears, such a survey was conducted by the Levada Center ****, also in August. The most common was the fear of illness of children and other close people; 40% of respondents “constantly experience” it. In second place is the fear of a world war (27%), in third place is the fear of poverty and poverty (22%) and the fear of one’s own illness and suffering (21%). And the arbitrariness of the authorities and lawlessness, Russians are more afraid than criminals: 15% against 13%.
*
**
***
****